Quote:
Originally Posted by brencat
I think it's harder to worry about 'value of the brand' like a boutique that sells 300 - 700 guitars a year, when Martin needs to move 100k guitars annually. Just my opinion, but because of their heavy investment in global brand name recognition, Martin will happily sacrifice a few dealers who can't make their minimums when they know new would be dealers are lined up doublestack around the block for a shot at selling the Martin brand.
A cold way of saying 'they don't care whether their dealers sell at MAP or at wholesale, as long as the product keeps moving.' And the 40% off MSRP thing has been status quo for decades now.
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I agree completely Brendan. You did a great job of summarizing the culture. But my comments about impact on the brand are from the (mine at least) consumer’s perspective. As a consumer, I automatically suspect a guitar is worth less when companies play this phony pricing game. For over 30 years I bought a new car (alternating with my wife) every year because of the crazy miles my wife and I put on our cars. I learned fast how much room there was on the MSRP, the dealer cost, my buying price and trade-in value. All I’m saying is, as a consumer I don’t like the game. Brands that play that game become commodities (like cars) and I get that. I’m a realist and live comfortably knowing this is how it works.